(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method for transmitting print data for printing images, characters, and so on to a print head to print the images and others based on the print data.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, this type of apparatus includes a printing apparatus having a transmitter for transmitting image data along with inspection information based thereon, a receiver for receiving the image data from the transmitter through a transmission channel, and an image corrector for performing printing based on the image data received by the receiver. See Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-288014 (FIGS. 1 and 2), for example.
The receiver detects errors in the received image data based on the inspection information. When the receiver detects an error, the image corrector corrects the error, and performs printing based on the corrected image data.
However, the conventional example with such construction has the following problem.
The conventional apparatus can detect and correct errors when image data is corrupted under the influence of noise or the like in the transmission channel. However, it is impossible to detect abnormalities in an operating sequence showing operation of each component at the time of printing by the printing apparatus. Consequently, the printing based on the image data is continued even if there is an abnormality in the operating sequence of the printing apparatus, which could result in a printing failure.